Mall Mishap
by Jenrukiforevz
Summary: Modern Mall AU in which Ed takes on a job as one of Santa's elves and accidentally enlists Winry's help in catching the kid she lost.


**A/N: Can you tell how well I started off and how badly I ended? I sure can. Oh, well, too late to make any changes now; I've still got one more Secert Santa left to do. This is an FMA Secret Santa for tumblr user _bisexualsayaka_. **

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Why Edward had accepted the job, he wasn't sure, but he regretted it… a lot.

His hat kept falling over his eyes, his shoes were difficult to walk in, and his suit was extremely itchy, not to mention that it was the ugliest shade of green he had ever had the misfortune of seeing. He would've left already if he hadn't already been paid.

On the bright side, it wasn't a hard job. All he had to do was act like an elf and entertain the kids occasionally while they waited in line for the mall Santa who hadn't even showed up yet. Not many people showed up, though, so he didn't have to worry about much. Besides, his two co-workers, Ling and his brother, Al, were keeping everyone occupied.

"Mom, that _really_ must be one of Santa's elves!" a kid exclaimed, pointing at Ed as he and his mother walked past the post. "He's so short!"

Ed fought the urge to scare the kid away and instead focused on his phone game. It was only by chance that he noticed a boy beginning to climb the railing.

"Hey, hey!" Ed stuffed his phone in his pocket, rushed over to the boy, and pulled him back to the right side before he could fall over. "Watch it!"

The boy simply looked up at him and smiled. "Elves can use magic, right?"

Ed was caught off guard by the question, but nodded nonetheless. "Uh, I guess…"

"So, if I jumped off the second story of the mall, you could use your magic to catch me?" the boy asked, still grinning widely.

"Listen kid, you've got to understand that I'm not an actual elf," Ed explained, mildly disturbed that he'd come up with such an assumption. "If you throw yourself off the second floor, you get seriously hurt, okay?"

"I don't believe you," the kid narrowed his eyes, as if he was making a challenge. "There's no way someone as short as you _isn't_ an elf."

 _This is probably why I was hired..._

Ed rolled his eyes and mockingly muttered, "Yeah? Well you better believe I'm not because I don't intend on being sued today."

The kid just stared at him for a while after that, not doing anything in particular. But just as Ed had settled back into his previous spot, he saw the boy flash by and run through the exit of the Santa post.

Ed couldn't identify if any of his parents were there, and he already had a good idea of what the kid was about to do, so Ed jumped over the railing and chased after him.

Normally, he would've caught up to the kid pretty quickly, but with such a large crowd of last minute Christmas shoppers, it was hard enough just to locate the little guy. Once Ed had caught sight of the boy, he wove through the masses, an endless stream of apologies coming out of his mouth.

He could see the kid moving up the escalator, but by the time he arrived, there were too many people for him to move around. Instead, he was forced to patiently wait until he reached the top and search for the boy once again since he had lost him.

"Has a boy come in here?" he shouted into the nearest store.

"What was he wearing?" a blonde chick asked moving hurriedly from the back of the store to the front.

"Um, I think he had a dinosaur sweater and camo pants?" Ed recalled when he had last seen him.

"Oh no!" the girl cried, hitting her head on the nearest clothes rack. "I knew I shouldn't've left him in line!"

"You know the kid?" Ed raised an eyebrow.

The girl nodded, rushing out of the store and joining him in finding the kid. "His name's Selim. I'm supposed to be babysitting him for a family friend, but I needed to get some shopping done so I brought him along. He wanted to see Santa, though, so I left him there so I could come pick him up later. Obviously, that was a pretty bad idea."

"You got _that_ right…" Ed murmured, annoyed at the girl for causing this mess, but also grateful for her assistance in the matter.

The girl frowned, but continued as they kept searching, "I'm Winry, by the way."

"Ed."

After passing through the whole second floor without much luck, the two agreed to split up, Ed remaining on top and Winry leaving to the first level in case Selim had gone back down. Just as Ed saw Winry reach the bottom, however, he heard Selim's voice ahead of him.

He was standing on a bench close to the railing, his head stretching over it by a large margin.

"I was wondering when you'd show up" he called out, making a pouty face. "Now be ready to catch me!"

"Get down this instant!" Ed warned, calmly approaching Selim.

"Nuh,uh!" Selim refused, dangerously leaning further on the railing.

"I won't be able to catch you!" Ed desperately tried to convince him to stop. If he could just get a little closer…

Selim hesitated, and Ed thought he had finally done it. But in a blink of an eye, he threw himself over the edge.

"Damn it!" he yelled, rushing over to where he had last seen Selim. He had heard a couple screams from below, and he was afraid of what they meant. Ed slowly leaned over and opened his eyes, expecting to see Selim being rushed to emergency care or something.

Surprisingly enough, that wasn't what he saw at all. Instead, he was met with a crowd of people _clapping_ , and in the center of it all was Winry, Selim in her arms.

Ed rushed back to the bottom floor and pushed through the people to get to Winry.

"Did you catch him or something?" he asked once he had made it to her.

"It was more like I was at the right place at the right time," Winry chuckled, "but yeah, that just about sums it up."

Ed sighed in relief, thankful that everything had ended up alright.

"This wouldn't've happened if you hadn't warned me, though," Winry continued. "So, thanks for that. I'll make sure to take better care of this little guy in the future."

Ed couldn't help but feel like he did something productive for once, but he had to be honest with himself and accept that he hadn't really done anything. "Nah, I couldn't even do my job properly. Thank _you_ for not getting me sued today."

"Maybe we should just treat ourselves to some donuts and leave it at that," Winry suggested.

"Welp, I can't really argue with donuts," Ed accepted the invitation. "I've got to go back to my shift, though, so maybe later?"

"Do you have your phone on you?" Winry suddenly probed. "I'd like to borrow it for a moment."

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Ed took his phone out of his pocket and handed it over.

Winry pressed a few buttons on his phone, then handed it back. "That's my number. Text me when you're ready, okay?"

Ed thought nothing of it and nodded. "I'll see you later then."

He and Winry waved each other goodbye, and it wasn't until Ed came back to his post and explained to his co-workers his sudden absence that he realized that Winry had asked him out.


End file.
